Creation Of 31 New States: Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Arewa Speak

 A fresh proposal by the House of Representatives Constitution Review Committee to create 31 additional states in Nigeria has triggered strong reactions from prominent individuals and socio-political groups across the country.

The proposal, which would increase Nigeria’s current 36 states to 67, was contained in a letter read during Thursday’s plenary session by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided in the absence of Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

According to the letter, the proposed states include:

– North-Central: Okun, Okura, and Confluence (from Kogi); Benue Ala and Apa (from Benue); FCT State

– North-East: Amana (Adamawa); Katagum (Bauchi); Savannah (Borno); Muri (Taraba)

– North-West: New Kaduna, Gujarat (Kaduna); Tiga, Ari (Kano); Kainji (Kebbi)

– South-East: Etiti, Orashi (sixth states in the South-East); Adada (Enugu); Orlu (Imo); Aba (Abia)


– South-South: Ogoja (Cross River); Warri (Delta); Ori, Obolo (Rivers)

– South-West: Torumbe (Ondo); Ibadan (Oyo); Lagoon (Lagos); Ijebu, Ogun (Ogun); Oke-Ogun/Ijesha (Oyo/Ogun/Osun)

The committee stated that the creation of new states must meet constitutional requirements, including a two-thirds majority approval from the National Assembly, the affected State Houses of Assembly, and Local Government Councils.

Afenifere, Arewa Groups Reject Proposal

However, major socio-cultural groups, including Afenifere and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), have rejected the proposal, describing it as “ridiculous and unnecessary.”

The National Organising Secretary of Afenifere, Abagun Kole Omololu in an interview with Punch, dismissed the move, stating that it contradicts Afenifere’s longstanding demand for true federalism.

“Instead of addressing the core structural issues plaguing Nigeria, this initiative appears to be a mere political exercise that will further weaken governance and deepen economic inefficiencies.’’

Afenifere has consistently advocated genuine fiscal federalism, similar to what Nigeria’s founding fathers agreed upon before independence.

Omololu noted, “The creation of more states without a viable economic foundation will only compound the financial burden on the nation, as many existing states are already struggling to generate sufficient Internally Generated Revenue and rely heavily on federal allocations to survive.

“Turning every local government into a state is not the solution to Nigeria’s governance challenges. The real issue is not the number of states but the dysfunctional federal structure that has concentrated power at the centre, stifling regional development.”

Instead of proliferating states that may later be unviable, Afenifere urged the National Assembly to focus on constitutional reforms that would devolve power, return resource control to the regions, and grant states the autonomy to develop at their own pace.

“Nigeria needs a system where states or regions control their resources and contribute an agreed percentage to the federal government, just as it was during the First Republic. This is the only path to sustainable development, not the reckless creation of more administrative units.

“Afenifere rejects this proposal and calls on well-meaning Nigerians to resist attempts to distract from the real conversation—restructuring and true federalism,” Omololu declared.

Arewa Consultative Forum Oppose Lawmakers’ Move

The Arewa Consultative Forum similarly expressed strong opposition to the proposed creation of 31 new states, describing the idea as unnecessary.

Ohanaeze Endorse Move

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide declared that the South-East should be allocated more states to address “the wrongs that had been done to the region on state creation.’’

Ohanaeze’s National Publicity Secretary, Ezechi Chukwu, stated, “It is unfortunate that such a bill is also aimed at suppressing the South-East as usual. It is completely unacceptable that Southeast should be appropriated only five states.

“South-East, all these while, is the only zone in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that has the least number of states irrespective of our population and our contributions both economically and infrastructural development of the nation.

“So, giving southeast such a small number of five states in this bill when others that already have advantages orchestrated by successive governments before now is quite unacceptable and unfortunately, it is above all antithetical to the commonwealth of the South-Easterners and the so-called equity we are preaching in the country.”

He added, “South-East deserves more states more than any other zone in the country because South-East is the only zone that has been short-changed over the years by successive governments. So, if justice and equity should prevail southeast must be given the highest number of states.

“So, if the Federal Government fails to correct the wrongs that had been done to the South-East over the years, this is the time to at least give this equation some terms of balance by appropriating more number states to the South-East to make up with the other geopolitical zones.”

The Pan-Niger Delta Forum observed that the creation of more states could be meaningful if all the geo-political zones in the country have equal states as agreed in the last constitutional conference.

The spokesman for PANDEF, Christopher Ominimini, however, queried the viability of new states, pointing out that states should be created based on self-sustainability.

If the creation of more states became necessary, he argued it should be done equally across the board to even with the North-West, which has seven states.

Anything short of that, he noted, would be a perpetuation of the injustice in the country.

He said a situation where more states would be created to depend on the oil and gas from the Niger Delta region, while other states with mineral resources are allowed to exploit theirs is not the way to go.

He stated, “ Well, it is the right of the people to call for the creation of states. However, the most important thing is that in the last constitutional conference, it was agreed that all the geopolitical zones should have seven states each as it is in the North-West.

“So, the South -East should have additional two states so that it would be seven states. The South- West should have additional states to make it seven states.

He added, “But the question we want to ask is ‘will the states be viable?’ Do they have the means of survival if the vision of our forefathers are kept to? Because the vision of our forefathers who fought for the independence of this country is that the various states should control their resources and pay tax to the centre.”

Ex-N’Assembly members, groups fault Reps 31 new states’ proposal

https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/ex-nassembly-members-groups-fault-reps-31-new-states-proposal/%3famp

1 Like 1 Share